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1/15/2010

How to develop trading exprtise

The primary challenge in trading is of expertise development. To trade profitably, you need an expertise in a particular setup. If you want to trade Episodic Pivots successfully then need to become an expert in it. Or if you want to trade IBD 200 method or momentum trading you need to become expert at it. Trying it out or couple of days does not make you an expert.

If you understand the process involved in becoming an expert than you'll find it easier to become an expert.

What is an expert

Layperson uses the term expert loosely to describe anyone with superior knowledge or skill.

Psychologists use the term expert to refer to an individual who is significantly more experienced than others in performing a particular task.

Expertise is task specific.

How do expert develop such expertise?

Psychologists have studied expertise development and experts in various fields and today there is a very good understanding about what makes an expert a expert.

Psychologists have found that expertise is developed through encapsulation.Encapsulation is a process whereby the adult learner's cognitive energies and skills become focused on a specific areas.

The outcome is cognitive efficiency. As a result of the process new ways of thinking develop in the brain. Brain becomes extremely efficient at performing the task.

There are many differences between experts and novice

The difference between experts and novices cannot be reduced solely to experience. There are at many qualitative differences between experts and novice.

Novices rely on formal rules and procedures to guide them. Experts rely to a greater degree on their accumulated experience.

Absence of such a accumulated experience creates problem for novices, this problem can be overcome by studying historical examples. If you study thousand examples of past swing trades or Episodic Pivots trades then you will have a better accumulated experience.

As a result of such deliberate study next time when you are taking a trade you will bring the accumulated experience of 1000 plus trade to your trade.

Reduce the load on cognitive process

Novices are highly conscious of the task performance process and the rules involved in performing the task. This task consciousness creates a load on cognitive process.

The cognitive load theory shows that humans have very small short term memory. So when they try and do complex task where they have not yet acquired expertise, it leads to cognitive load. They are trying to remember steps or sequence or method rules. This is a distraction and creates additional "load" on cognitive processing.

That is why they become frustrated, harried, or lack confidence. As expertise grows, performance of the task becomes automatic. This cognitive phenomenon is called "automaticity."

In trading terms when a trader tries to trade a method like say IBD 200 after reading the guidelines here, he soon encounters cognitive load. He is trying to remember the steps without sufficient practice and thinking. He or she spends great deal of time on smaller task. As a result gets frustrated.

Understand the cognitive load theory

Understanding the cognitive load theory is very critical if you want to become a consistently profitable trader.

Human brain has short-term memory and long-term memory. All learning happens in short-term memory. once learning happens, it is stored in long-term memory.

When information is stored in long-term memory, it is stored as chunks. And when this information is recalled, it is also recalled in chunks. This is the reason why somebody who is an expert takes many factors into consideration in a single decision.

As expertise is acquired, the learner'scognitive processing system becomes more efficient at processing new information. As a result, experts can see the whole picture. They are also more aware of the specific circumstances in which they are working. They have good self-monitoring skills. Experts can make even very complex, difficult tasks look easy.

Experts use larger number of strategies

The expert has alarger number of strategies, and more effective strategies, for performing the task. This may be the most critical difference between the expert and the novice.

Experts have multiple strategies for dealing with the unexpected things and change of circumstances. This is the X factor. You develop this if you spend significant effort immersed in a task.

In trading terms expert trader takes more factor in to consideration on a trade. He is aware of overall market, sector moves, phase of market, what style is working and what is not working and so on. While novice focuss on few variables.

Trading from the gut

Experts are more flexible than novices. They rely on intuitionin ways that novices find difficult to comprehend.

Recently Curtis Faith came out with a book called Trading From Your Gut . The book deals with such issues in detail.

Those who are serious about their trading will find his book very interesting.

Many novices will find it difficult to understand or fail to grasp the significance of it.

How do I become an expert in a specific trading strategy

For a beginner trader that is the big challenge. If you want to be a successful trader you should be conscious of these processes. Study the psychology of expertise.

If you understand the process involved in becoming a expert, you will approach your learning very differently. You will consciously follow a learning path that will lead to developing a trading expertise.

That kind of approach will lead to life long skill development.

First find a good setup

Expertise is task specific. So defining a specific task to become an expert at is very critical.

The first step in becoming a good trader is to arrive at a tradable setup. And then become an expert in trading that particular setup.

In the initial phase when you're not very clear about which setup to trade, you must look at all possibilities.

Look at all possible options like day trading, swing trading, position trading, macro trading, options, futures, currencies, and so on.

Once you cast your net wide, you'll find many possible setups.

Find a setup that suits your personality

Then you have to decide what kind of setup suits your personality. Charles Kirk in his Twitter feed highlighted a post by Tim Knight of Slope of Hope yesterday about this.

Tim Knight wrote a post Finding Your trading style , that goes to the heart of the matter. He predominantly trades a bearish setup because it suits his style and personality.

You can only trade what you believe in and what suits your style.

Some people are inclined to growth, some are inclined to value, some are inclined towards momentum and so on.

You have to find your style.

Setup should also suit your capital

Even if a setup suits your personality, it should also suit your trading capital.

Certain types of trading require large capital. Certain types of trading is best done in a professional environment. Certain type of trading is more suitable for small and medium-size accounts.

Macro trading is suitable for very large accounts. Trend trading is not suitable for small accounts. Swing trading is more suitable for smaller accounts.

Or if you want to become a daytrader it is best to join a professional firm.

Once you decide on a particular style and a setup. Then you must become an expert in that particular style.

Become an expert in a setup

To do this successfully you need to go into depth. If you want to become a good swing trader go into depth of swing trading.

Grab hold of every single piece of information available on swing trading. Study swing trading styles of different traders. Get in to microscopic detail of swing trading. Exhaust all learning sources on swing trading.

Then design a strategy or model year strategy on someone else strategy.Then trade it consistently for a long period of time. if you do that then only you'll develop expertise.

Most traders change their style so often that they never become an expert. They are constantly trying out new styles.

Not everybody has the time and inclination and motivation to do this successfully. That is why they say in trading profession many are called but few are chosen.

The path to being a profitable trader is the expertise development path.

Are you serious about your trading?

If you are serious about your trading and want to build an enduring edge theStockbee Member site might help you. Members tell me they have tried lot of things before coming to my site and it has offered them the most extensive and detailed methods to swing and position trade.

It is only for those who want to develop their own self sufficient trading method. It is not a stock picking service. It is service for you to build your own scans and trading method to have your own daily pick based on your method.

Be warned it will take you time to learn to trade. Learning to trade is difficult art and unless you are willing to spend months or years to perfect your strategy and also develop your mental edge you are unlikely to succeed in this game. Unless you understand that no site, no service, and no mentoring is going to work.

Why traders come to stockbee?

The member site is one of the most recommended site for learning to trade by other traders and bloggers. You will see no advertising, no hard marketing, no promotions, no free offers, no affiliate marketing, no incentive to other bloggers to promote the site, no constant twits self promoting the site, no free trial and no tall claims of making you instantly wealthy, and yet the site attracts new members everyday. Members come from all walks of life and all kinds of trading size and trading styles.

You will see that many trading bloggers have been using my market timing methods, scans , stock ranking lists and chart templates. They have developed their own methods based on my methods. Many paid newsletter site recommend my site to their subscriber for learning about trading and market.

Over the years thousands of traders have been members and those who benefited from the learning talk about the site to others or talk about the methods used and that is how new members learn about the site.

What will I learn in the members site?

The members site will give you in depth understanding to develop your own trading method. The emphasis is on making you self sufficient and confident of your own trading method and style.

As a member you will learn the basics of swing trading, momentum investing, growth investing and risk management.

You will learn about Stockbee Trend Intensity Breakouts method that uses momentum based swing trading to find 3 to 5 day swing trades for 8 to 40% profit.

You will learn about Stockbee Episodic Pivots Breakout method which uses Post Earnings Announcement Drift (PEAD) to find stocks that had a game changing earnings and that are likely to rally for 3 months to 12 months.

You will learn about Stockbee Dollar Breakout method that uses momentum, range expansion and swing trading approach to find 5 to 40 dollar moves in high priced stocks.

You will learn about Stockbee Lemonade Strategy for 401k which uses market timing and momentum to invest in 401k. You will get weekly update on how I am using the strategy on our 401k to do allocation decision.

You will learn about Stockbee Market Monitor method for market timing using breadth. It allows you to avoid risky periods in market and allows you to identify market turns. It is used for 401k allocation decisions.

You will learn about Stockbee Double Trouble method to find stock with confirmed upside momentum using anchored momentum and that are likely to continue their up move.

You will learn about Stockbee Night Time is Right Time method to find news catalyst based trade ideas for short term day trade and swing trade.

You will learn about Investor's Business Daily’s IBD 200 list and how it can be used to find swing trading candidates for explosive moves.

You will learn about Telechart 2000 and how to use it effectively to scan for swing and position trade ideas and to set up your 401k strategy.

You will learn about Jesse Livermore Range Breakout, Darvas Box setup, and many other member shared methods.

You will learn how to set up your own scans, select right kind of stocks, how to set up stops, when to enter , when to exit, how much to risk, how to track your trades and all other details about trading. You will learn about developing your own methods and not relying on others for trade ideas.

The site has hundreds of videos and trading methods and variation of methods. Members help each other in developing the methods and share actively their research and finding. A collaborative spirit allows you to get input from others on your trading ideas or problems.

The site gives you opportunity to interact with some of the most successful traders and learn from them about their trading methods. It is a vibrant community with members from different background and experience willing to help each other. The emphasis is on continuous learning and up gradation of market knowledge and setup knowledge. The members range from hedge fund employees, financial advisers, active swing traders, investors and new traders.

If you are looking to develop your own trading strategy the membership site might be for you. You have to be willing to put in the effort to build your own method. There are no silver bullets offered on members site. Every method, every scan, every nuance is detailed and all possible help is offered to design your own method.

Do you have a trial?

If you are just looking for trial you are better off trying thousands of other trading sites that offer free trial or one month trial and offer you promise of riches.

It is for those who are ready beyond the trial phase and ready to put serious months or years of efforts to learn to trade on their own. It is for those who want to learn to find their own fish.

The free blog has all the details about the methods I trade and if you go through the posts highlighted in the sidebar you will learn about them.

How can I become a member?

To sign up go to www.stockbee.biz and follow the sign up process. The site uses Paypal for payment processing.

Best site to learn to trade

If you are serious about your trading and want to build an enduring edge theStockbee Member site might help you.

Members tell me they have tried lot of things before coming to my site and it has offered them the most extensive and detailed methods to swing and position trade. Members range from very experienced traders to novices.

No advertising, no hard marketing, no promotions, no free offers, no affiliate marketing, no incentive to other bloggers to promote the site, no constant twits self promoting the site and no tall claims, every member comes through word of mouth recommendations from existing members.

As a member you will learn the basics of swing trading, momentum investing, growth investing and risk management.

You will learn how to setup your own scans, how to select right kind of stocks, how to setup stops, when to enter , when to exit, how much to risk, how to track your trades and all other details about trading.

You will learn about developing your own methods and not relying on others for trade ideas. Develop your own edge. Once you develop your own method you will have life long profitable method.The site gives you opportunity to interact with some of the most successful traders and learn from them about their trading methods. It is a vibrant community with members from different background and experience willing to help each other. Members have shared their methods, scans, software, backtests and market insights.

Everyday the emphasis is on continuous learning and up gradation of market knowledge and setup knowledge. The members range from hedge fund employees, financial advisers, active swing traders, investors and new traders.You will see that many trading bloggers have been using my market timing methods and scans and chart templates. They have developed their own methods based on my methods.

Almost every member comes through a recommendation of some of the leading trading bloggers and trading sites. 80% or more members continue to be members for more than 3 years. Most tell me that they stay on because everyday they learn so much from the members site.If you are looking to develop your own trading strategy the membership site might be for you. You have to be willing to put in the effort to build your own method. There are no silver bullets offered on members site. Every method, every scan, every nuance is detailed and all possible help is offered to design your own method.

Every trade I take is documented with position sizing so that you can learn how in real time these strategies are implemented. Several other members also share their trades. If you are just looking for stock picks, the members site is not for you. It is about learning to find your own fish.

If you are serious about your trading and want to build an enduring edge theStockbee Member site might help you.